Harry "Suitcase" Simpson appears on this baseball card provided by the Mack Gaston Community Center.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The City of Dalton has named the section of West Hill Cemetery where professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson is buried after him.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The City of Dalton has named the section of West Hill Cemetery where professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson is buried after him. Simpson, who grew up in Dalton, was one of the first black players in Major League Baseball.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The City of Dalton has named the section of West Hill Cemetery where professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson is buried after him.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The far southwest section of West Hill Cemetery has been named for professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson, a Dalton native who is buried there.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The section of Dalton's West Hill Cemetery accessed by Suitcase Simpson Drive has now also been named in honor of Harry "Suitcase" Simpson, a Dalton native and professional baseball player.

editor's pickfeatured

Part of West Hill Cemetery named for 'Suitcase' Simpson

By Charles Oliver

charlesoliver@dailycitizen.news

Jan 18, 2020

Jan 18, 2020

1 of 6

Harry "Suitcase" Simpson appears on this baseball card provided by the Mack Gaston Community Center.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The City of Dalton has named the section of West Hill Cemetery where professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson is buried after him.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The City of Dalton has named the section of West Hill Cemetery where professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson is buried after him. Simpson, who grew up in Dalton, was one of the first black players in Major League Baseball.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The City of Dalton has named the section of West Hill Cemetery where professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson is buried after him.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The far southwest section of West Hill Cemetery has been named for professional baseball player Harry "Suitcase" Simpson, a Dalton native who is buried there.

Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-News

The section of Dalton's West Hill Cemetery accessed by Suitcase Simpson Drive has now also been named in honor of Harry "Suitcase" Simpson, a Dalton native and professional baseball player.

Harry "Suitcase" Simpson's baseball career took him across the United States and to Latin America and Europe.

But he called Dalton home, and on Friday the city's Public Works Committee, which includes City Council member Tyree Goodlett and City Administrator Jason Parker, agreed to name the section of city-owned West Hill Cemetery that Simpson is buried in after him. The road leading into that section of the cemetery is already named Suitcase Simpson Drive.

Public Works Director Andrew Parker said the renaming is a chance to get rid of some offensive language and to honor one of Dalton's most famous citizens.

"That section (on the far southwest part of the cemetery) is predominately African American, and it was known as the colored section," he said. "The city hasn't used that term in decades. It hasn't been on any documents generated in that time. But it still remains on old documents. But this renaming will mean that on any future documents that are generated it will be known as the 'Suitcase' Simpson section."

Goodlett said the move is "long overdue."

"But most of the plots were sold years ago," he said. "I didn't even know it was called the colored section until this past year when my grandmother passed away and I looked at her plat and saw 'colored section.' It will be nice that that term won't be used anymore."

Simpson, who grew up in Dalton, was one of the first black players in Major League Baseball.

He began his MLB career in 1951 with the Cleveland Indians and continued for nine years as a first baseman and outfielder with stints with the Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and finally with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959. He played in the 1956 All-Star game beside future Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Warren Spahn and Ted Williams. He also played in the 1957 World Series with the Yankees.

Parker also advised committee members that the materials have arrived for planned speed cushions on a section of Fredrick Street and crews should begin installing them soon.

Committee members agreed last year to install speed cushions on Fredrick Street between Underwood Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard after residents requested it.

Speed cushions are made of recycled rubber and are considered a less aggressive means of slowing traffic than speed bumps.

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